East Palestine schools clean up financial situation

Katie White

Staff Writer

kwhite@mojonews.com

EAST PALESTINE — The village school district has made enough cuts to bring it out of the hole for next year.

Treasurer Rick Ellis gave the board of education a brief rundown of the financial state of the district during the regular meeting on Monday in which he presented the five-year financial forecast for their approval.

Ellis said the original forecast showed a projected deficit of $790,000 for 2020 and that the district has since been able to make $613,000 worth of cuts.

The cuts were the result of retirements and resignations and not filling those vacant positions.

With the cuts factored into the new forecast, the district is expected to end 2020 not only without a deficit, but by $14,000 in the black, he explained.

The change is significant considering the district has within the last month publicly discussed its dire financial situation and the possible need for a levy of some sort this November.

The district was originally looking at a roughly $4.5 million deficit by 2023 and that has now been pared down to $1.1 million by 2023, according to the new forecast presented by Ellis.